SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 16: The American Muslim Alliance (AMA), a national organization with 97 chapters in 34 states, has stepped up its campaign to register American Muslim voters for the Nov 5 mid-term elections and get at least 85 per cent registered Muslims to vote.

The AMA released its “Election 2002 Action Plan” on Monday with the slogan, “Our vote is still the best guarantee of our civil rights.”

It called on Muslim leaders to persuade the community to vote en bloc in key states.

The California-based AMA was one of the four major American Muslim organizations which endorsed George Bush for president in the 2000 elections.

However, the number of Muslims running for elective office across the US has dropped by 85 percent this year because potential candidates fear the post-Sept 11 anti-Muslim backlash would doom their campaigns.